The invention is in the field of piece goods processing and piece goods conveyance and concerns an installation in accordance with the generic term of the first, independent claim. The installation in essence serves for processing a large number of identical or similar products (piece goods) in series and comprises at least one processing station for processing the products in a substantially serial manner. Products to be processed are supplied to the at least one processing station through at least one supply means and processed products are conveyed away from the at least one processing station through at least one removal means, wherein supply to a first processing station can be combined with removal from a second processing station and can be carried out by a transfer means.
For supply, removal or transfer, the products are conveyed one after the other into the processing station, away from the processing station, or from one processing station to a next processing station. For supply to the processing station, the products are taken over individually from a storage formation or from a preceding conveyor by the supply means and are then conveyed to be individually positioned for processing in a clocked manner. For uncoupling taking-over and positioning, it is advantageous to provide buffering between taking-over and positioning. For removal, products are taken off from the processing station in a clocked manner, are conveyed away and are then deposited in an ordered manner or delivered to a further conveyor. Between taking-off and depositing or delivery the products may also be buffered. For transfer, individual products or small groups of products are taken over in a clocked manner from a first processing station, are conveyed away to be supplied to a second processing station and are positioned in the second processing station individually or in small groups and in a clocked manner, advantageously being buffered between taking-off and positioning.
A means for positioning on the supply side is to operate exactly synchronized with the processing. The same is applicable for means for the taking-off on the removal side. For this reason, at least the positioning and taking-off means are usually rigidly connected with the processing means and in most cases are also driven by the same drive.
An example for an installation of the above mentioned piece goods processing is an installation for producing products from a plurality of sub-products, for example, for producing printed products, such as newspapers, periodicals or brochures, by assembling for every product several sub-products produced in different printing processes and differing from one another at least with respect to content, and if so required joining the sub-products together, for example by stapling or binding. In this case, processing essentially consists of assembling different sub-products and is effected by conveying products being produced from feeding point to feeding point and adding at every feeding point one sub-product to each product being produced, wherein every feeding point is usually supplied with sub-products of one type. The assembled sub-products are then joined to form a product, for example, by stapling or binding, and the products are then conveyed away.
Producing printed products as described above, in essence consists of a plurality of consecutive steps, in each of which a folded sub-product is positioned on a saddle-shaped support or on a folded sub-product already lying on the saddle-shaped support, or a folded sub-product is positioned in a V-shaped compartment or in a folded sub-product already present in the V-shaped compartment or one folded or unfolded sub-product is positioned on a stacking support or on a sub-product already stacked on the stacking support.
Installations for such production of printed products from a plurality of sub-products of different types comprise a means for conveying products being produced e.g. a rotating drum with a multitude of saddle-shaped supports or V-shaped compartments being arranged in a regular manner around the circumference of the drum and extending in axial direction. The products to be produced are positioned on the saddle-shaped supports or in the V-shaped compartments and during rotation of the drum are moved in axial direction from feeding point to feeding point. Instead of the named drums it is also possible to utilize circulation systems, in which saddle-shaped supports, V-shaped compartments or stacking supports are conveyed on an endless track, whereby the products being produced are conveyed over an essentially straight piece of track on the saddle-shaped supports in the V-shaped compartments or on the flat stacking supports. The feeding streams of the sub-products merge into this essentially straight piece of track from above. Thereby, the products being produced may, in addition to being conveyed along this straight track, be displaced perpendicular to the general conveying direction in a similar manner as is the case in the mentioned drums. It is also possible to move the products being produced from feeding point to feeding point along a corresponding support using essentially stationary pushing means.
Installations for producing products from a plurality of sub-products, e.g. printed products from a plurality of printed sub-products, require a number of feeding points, which number varies according to the product to be produced. The outfitting of the feeding points may also vary according to the feeding method and the format of the sub-products to be supplied and the spacing between one feeding point and a next one along the conveying track of the products being produced may vary depending on the format of the sub-products or of the products being produced and/or depending on further processing steps to be carried out between the feeding points. The devices needed for producing one single type of product may all be the same or may be different from one another. In the case of a change from producing one type of product to producing a different type of product, the feeding devices may have to be converted, to be dismantled and replaced, to be newly adjusted and/or to be activated or de-activated, all of this being associated with a substantial working effort and time requirement.
Known installations for producing printed products from a plurality of printed sub-products comprise a conveying means for conveying the products to be produced and at each predefined feeding point, rigidly connected to said conveying means, one feeding device, i.e. at least one sub-product buffer and one means for positioning sub-products in a clocked manner. The simplest of these installations use so-called sheet feeders as feeding devices, in which sheet feeders the sub-products are buffered in a loose stack and are individualized from the stack for being positioned and which sheet feeders are manually supplied with sub-products. Further developed installations (e.g., in accordance with the publications EP-0550828 or U.S. Pat. No. 5,324,014 respectively) comprise more or less automated feeding means in the form of, for example, unwinding stations. These feeding means are also rigidly connected to one specific feeding point, i.e. to the conveying means for conveying the products being produced.
All installations of the above named kind are not well suited for flexible production, i.e. for producing relatively small editions of printed products, wherein the products of subsequent editions differ not only with respect to content and to number of the sub-products, but also with respect to the format of the sub-products and to required handling of the sub-products.
An approach to such flexibilization is to be found in the publication U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,711 (Newsome) describing a displaceable device, which can be connected alternatively to one of a plurality of fixedly installed sheet feeders of different feeding points. The device is manually supplied with sub-products, supply being possible in larger batches than direct supply to the sheet feeder. The sub-products are then loosely stacked on the sheet feeder by the device. The flexibility achieved with this device is limited by the flexibility of the fixedly installed sheet feeders as far as regarding sub-product buffering and positioning and by the flexibility of the operating personnel ar far as regarding sub-product supply. This means, at least regarding sub-product formats and sub-product handling this flexibility is no greater than for installations with directly manually operated sheet feeders. The flexibility achieved with the device according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,711 essentially only regards the fact, that the installation can be moved from a currently not active feeding point to an active feeding point.
A further approach to flexibilization of the production of printed products from a plurality of sub-products, in particular flexibilization of the supply side, is described in the publication DE-19634568 or U.S. Pat. No. 5,799,897 respectively. With the device as described in this publication, an attempt is undertaken to solve the flexibility problem by standardization. In a step preceding the actual feeding, standardized feeding formations are established from different storage formations of different types of sub-products. These feeding formations are then supplied without change to buffer devices which are fixedly assigned to one feeding point. From the feeding buffers, the sub-products, once again essentially without any change of the formation, are added to products being produced. Here too, the flexibility is limited to the flexibility of the feeding buffers and of positioning means both being fixedly installed at the feeding points.
The above named wishes regarding flexibility are manifest in particular in connection with supply or feeding means for the named installations for producing products from a plurality of sub-products, which supply means may of course also be transfer means. These wishes are, however, equally valid regarding removal of products in the same sort of installations, i.e. regarding removal means which can also be designed for transfer. And in the same manner the wishes are valid regarding product supply, product removal and product transfer in installations with one or more than one processing station, each of which requires only one supply means.
The invention aims at implementing a further, great step in the direction of increased flexibility for installations for the processing of piece goods and this without any significant additional expense for equipment. The object of the invention consists in creating an installation for processing piece goods, which installation comprises at least one processing station with at least one supply means and at least one removal means, wherein, if required, supply means may be combined with removal means to form transfer means. The inventive installation is to be very easily convertible for consecutive operating phases in which significantly different products are produced.
For piece goods processing which comprises assembling a plurality of sub-products to form a product, using the inventive installation shall make it e.g. possible to produce different product types in consecutive operating phases which product types differ from one another with respect to the number of sub-products, with respect to sub-product formats, with respect to required handling of the sub-products and/or with respect to further processing steps to be carried out between feeding points. The inventive installation shall make it possible to change the type of the sub-product to be fed at a specific feeding point within wider limits than is possible up until now and without any substantial conversion effort, and/or it shall make it possible to make available sections of the conveying track of the products being produced for other processing tasks than adding sub-products and/or it shall make it possible in the case of a reduced operation (producing products from a relatively small number of sub-products) to transfer unused equipment to other installations running in parallel. This objective is achieved by the installation for processing piece goods as defined in the claims.
The invention is based on the idea of implementing a mechanical separation between product processing and product supply or removal in such a manner, that processing functions are clearly separated from supply or removal functions. The mechanical separation is located on the supply side between product processing and positioning of the products for being processed, and on the removal side between product processing and taking-off from processing of processed products, processing itself including only a minimum of conveyance. The supply, removal or transfer functions mechanically separated from the processing function are implemented by mechanical units for product supply, product removal and product transfer, which units are displaceable and advantageously adjustable and which units are couplable to a coupling point of a processing device in such a manner, that through such coupling at least a means for product positioning or for product taking-off being part of the unit is synchronized with the processing device and advantageously is not only synchronized with the processing device, but is also driven by the latter.
The inventive installation for processing piece goods comprises at least one processing device with at least one supply means and at least one removal means, wherein at least one of supply or removal means is designed as a displaceable unit. This unit comprises a drivable means for positioning in the processing device one product per time cycles or a drivable means for taking off from the processing device one product per timing cycle, which drivable means is couplable to the processing device for being synchronized with the processing device or for being driven by and synchronized with the processing device.
In addition to the drivable positioning or taking-off means mentioned above, the units comprise second drivable means i.e. in case of a supply means a means for individualizing or for taking-over, in the case of a removal means a means for depositing or for handing-over and for a transfer means a means for positioning or a means for taking-off. The drives of the two drivable means are independent of one another and advantageously a buffer zone is arranged between the two means.
The units comprise a closed-in-itself rail track system, along which a plurality of product grippers is moved, the grippers having varying distances between one another and being controlled for activation or de-activation.
The couplability to the processing device of the drivable positioning or taking-off means may e.g. be implemented with sensory means, which sensory means senses the processing function of the processing device and generates control signals for controlling a drive for driving the positioning or taking-off means. Advantageously, the coupling means is a power take-off couplable to the periphery of the processing device and taking over from the processing device not only the synchronization, but also the driving power. A power take-off of this type consists, for example, of a toothed belt (synchronous belt) brought into engagement with elements at the periphery of the processing device which elements move with the processing clock.